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Thursday, May 25, 2017

Just a Dash: 1989 Fiat Tipo DGT

When they work, we all love digital dashes - I think this is a foregone conclusion. But apparently those in charge of naming the Fiat Tipo DGT were so fond of their pixelated panel that they named the whole entire car for it; an admirable feat. Find this 1989 Fiat Tipo DGT for sale in Providence, RI for an undisclosed number of lira via craigslist. Tip from Carter.

The Tipo, like many other European economy cars of the late 80's, was based off of a shared platform that pretty much everyone Italian dipped into. For something relatively bottom market, it has some fascinating lines, particularly from the rear 3/4 view. The smokey rear lights, Borbet wheels, and rear winglet give it some sporting pretenses that it may or may not be able to back up.

Aurelio Lampredi likely didn't think that the motor he designed in the mid-60's would still be in production, no less turned sideways in a car with instrumentation and styling from space. Though there were heaps upon tons of engine options for the Tipo, this particular flavor appears to be a carbureted, 1.6l 8-valve variant. Though it will sound gnarly, it will not be fast.

Look straight past those horrific floormats and direct your eyes to what they named the car for: the glorious wide, illuminated, liquid crystal filled driver centro di informazioni. If I had more space, I'd start a digital dash museum in my house but since I don't, I recommend google imaging that bad boy and then all of other European techno digi-dashes.

8 comments:

Probably a sweet engine, even in this configuration, but my experience with other Fiat products of that era suggests that everything else about this car may be nasty. I found them to be tinny, badly assembled, noisy, and with horrendous ergonomics. Of course I would love to hear from someone who has driven this particular model.

One thing for sure, you will be the only kid on your block with one of these.

I drive one daily. Carburated 1.4, also Lampredi (all gasoline Tipo engines are Lampredi's design except 1.1 FIRE unit fitted for Italian domestic market), an 'amplified' unit made for Fiat Tempra, fitted in Tipos at the end of production run - same power as 1.6 8-valve, a bit less torque. And what a glorious daily it is! Honestly, I have a hard time finding a reason to pick a Golf or an Escort over this. It's more spacious not only than Mk3 Golf but also than Mk4 that came out years after Tipo's production ended, it's comfortable, it handles great, it's very basic so there's not much to go wrong with it, it's definitely something else compared to bland hatchbacks of the 80s... and it's Auto dell'anno nel 1989, the Car of the Year for Pete's sake, it has to mean something! ;)) And I actually am the only kid not only on the block but probably in the whole neighborhood to drive one, even though they made over 1.9 million of these and I live in Europe. What it means is it turns heads, I'm serious. I thought a granddad-spec hatch with its boring metallic grey paint, factory 14 inch steelies with Lancia Dedra hubcaps (for the lack of original ones) and a small 'I'd rather push a Fiat than drive a Golf' sticker on the back it would make a nice stealthy commuter and blend in the traffic but it literally makes people walking by stop dead to have a look, go figure! Who would have thought it would make such a stir. Maybe it's because there's no rust on it? ;) Anyways, if it's like this here then I can only imagine what a spectacle it might be in the US.

A nit to pick: this car was featured on BaT on 9 April 2016. It is the Lampredi 1.6l DOHC engine according to that advert... all ground-pounding 85 bhp worth of it. Also, the same pictures were used in that BaT listing as in this CL advert however, if you google the VIN from the BaT listing, you'll see it's allegedly an '88 DGT and it'll bring up a few more pictures on a site called David's Classic Cars.

Sketchyness aside, as I am broke as a joke anyway I'll just say it is a really wonderfully strange looking hatch. Kind of reminds me of the Merkur, but with less Gremlin and more angles. What, no love for that gas cover? Winner. I love how that C and D pillar kick up. I'd take the spoiler off just to see how it looks without it. I can't argue with the concern about Fiat build quality. Growing up hometown had a Datsun-Fiat dealership, and friends who went there where either very happy or stranded, depending on brand choice.

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